Last night was the 25th running of the High Heel Race down 17th St in Dupont Circle. It happens every year on the Tuesday before Halloween, and it’s always one of my favorite nights of the year. It seems to get more and more crowded each year that we go, and this one was no exception, especially because the weather was actually nice last night. Perfect for watching divas parade around in heels! There were lots of amazing Black Swan costumes this year, and a group dressed as the Royal family/wedding, but my personal favorite was the cast of Drop Dead Gorgeous in their pageant costumes, including someone as Denise Richards with her Mount Rushmore look.

Me, Jill, and Matt, like nearly everyone else there, watched from a few rows back from the front, craning our necks for some glimpses of the lovely ladies. It’s always hard to get a good view unless you get there early. But my friend Riles took it upon herself to carry a 6 foot ladder over to watch the race from above the crowd, and she was nice enough to share her video with me, so check it out.

Keys in hand!
   

First things first – up with the Christmas tree!
   

New space.
   

Homeowners!

It’s been a long while since we’ve posted anything… because we’ve been busy packing and moving into our first house!!! As of now, all the boxes and furniture are in and we’re slowly making it a home.

Since we put in our offer in November, the whole process went really smoothly thanks to our friends Redfin. We closed on December 9th and have been happy first time homeowners ever since!

On Saturday, a big crew of our family and friends helped us load the U-Haul truck and move out of our Q Street basement. We couldn’t have done it without them! After all the big stuff was done, there was lots of beer, pizza, chili, and cookies to nourish our moving arms.

I will certainly miss living in Dupont Circle and all the vibrant activity that’s constantly going on there, but I’m also excited for our quiet little street, all the friendly new neighbors we’ve met already, and our walls that aren’t crumbling in on themselves. The hardest part of packing up for me is not being able to reminisce through all of the parts of our lives as they go into the boxes. The old stacks of photos and travel souvenirs, film negatives and slides, and t-shirts and race memorabilia. It’s all there in stacks now, being relived a little as each part is unpacked.

As for the kids, they’re doing just fine. Bowser had a few minutes of whimpering in his new crate location, but he has since adjusted to his new space. Especially since it’s close to the heater vent, he can snuggle all cozy and warm under his blankets. And Moesha, well, after an eventful/scratchy car ride over in my dads arms, she seems to be queen of the castle once again and has even found the new litter box after only one accident.

Well, while we are still playing the movie quote game, as in yesterday’s comments, here is the caption for today’s photo: “You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You are the same decaying organic matter as everyone else, and we are all part of the same compost pile.” Shouldn’t be that hard to guess…

It’s a topic that Matt and I have discussed at length before, and one of my favorites, because it’s sometimes hard to pick a side… Do you think people everywhere are mostly the same, or mostly different? In other words, is there even such a thing as being unique? Basic needs for water, food and shelter aside (although some might argue you don’t need food or shelter (and some of us prefer to just eat, ahem, roses)), I like to think we are all mostly different. Perhaps this is a romanticized view of the world, or maybe that’s just my public school education lingering on, thankyouverymuch Bushy Park Elementary. I think many kids are taught from a young age to believe that they are different, special, one-of-a-kind. There is no one else quite like you!

But then there are cases against this, like the power of the internet for example, when you find someone else on Facebook that loves the smell of skunks , collects elephants, thinks “Little Giants” is the best movie ever, and can sing every lyric of every Old 97’s album… wait! I thought that was just me……..

In the end though, I think we are all different because of the way we think. Even if you took the most seemingly similar two people, their thought processes would always be different, even on the same topics. You can’t account for the human mind and the way it works when you compare people. Some may say, “great minds think alike,” but I think this falls to into the category of coincidence. In other words, there are some of us who, yes, may be considered decaying organic matter (have you ever ridden the metro in the summer???), but I don’t think we’re all part of the same compost pile.

Happy Thursday to you, our very special Juxtaexposed reader.

Peppers at the Dupont Circle farmers market — don’t they look crisp and delicious and ready to be stuffed and grilled? ahhh summertime is here.